Circus of Souls
'''Circus of Souls' is the nineteenth volume of Digital Comic and the thirty-seventh, -eighth, and -ninth issues in the seriesCredit and Purchase Info. Summary Part 1: The carnival that has come to Mystic Falls isn't what it appears to be-and when Sheriff Forbes realizes that people are disappearing, she turns to Damon for help! Part 2: Damon is trapped by the carnival's ringleader, but the real danger comes from a source much closer to home. Part 3: Bonnie’s figured out how to permanently end the ringleader’s carnival, but will it cost Jeremy part of his humanity? Plot A family of three are out camping and when the father leaves to get marshmallows, his daughter notices he's been gone awhile and the mother decides to look. When she sees they are in the trunk, she is then knocked out by an unknown person and carried off. Two days later, Stefan is punching bags and Damon comes up to him, asking if he wants to go on a ride for a few hours. They arrive at the police station and Liz tells them about the various people on the board that have gone missing within the last two weeks, and that they all are from Mystic Falls. The three then go to the woods and are accompanied by Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. They happen upon a carnival after hearing laughter and they spot the missing dad from Mystic Hardware, and notice that he's acting as if he has been compelled. Elena and Liz heads towards the entrance and see that Jeremy and Matt are also there, and they decide to find the others and make a plan. Damon points to the ringmaster and Bonnie notes that the pendant he's wearing doesn't come from some costume shop as she has seen something like it before in her grandmother's books. Damon decides to confront the ringmaster and when he goes to attack him, Damon gets a pain in his head, and is dragged away by two strongmen. Bonnie tells the group that the pendant is an Druidic artifact that is used to control a subject. The book also says that the pendant has to be destroyed to release the subjects from their trance. Elena decides to go with Stefan and Liz to get Damon, Jeremy and Matt, while Caroline will help Bonnie to get what she needs. While Bonnie and Caroline head to the carnival, they run into a girl that is in a trance and another shows up as well. Liz, Elena and Stefan are already at the carnival and Elena heads to the mirror room and sees images of her, Stefan, Damon and Jeremy, and bursts through one of the mirrors. Liz and Stefan are at a haunted house and decide to go different ways. When Stefan begins to get a PTSD attack, Elena grabs him and says that she'll always be there for him. In the main tent, Damon reaches outwards and sees that it's vervain covered. The ringmaster shows up with other members of the troupe and hopes he's well rested for the main event, with the lights coming on and the tent is shown to be full of people in a trance. Damon throws a small metal box that reads "Crank me" and when it lands, it reveals a stake inside, which proceeds to stab him in the back. The ringmaster states that pain is a great motivator and he must get him ready for the big event. Stefan and Elena threaten a worker at the carnival and he tells him about an event in the main tent and they decide to look for Damon on their own. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Caroline are still facing off against the two girls and when Caroline bites one, she realizes that the girl has taken vervain. Bonnie pepper sprays the two girls and when Caroline tries to compel them, they realize that it won't work until they do something about the ringmaster. Stefan decides to go find Damon while Liz and Elena can go after Matt and Jeremy, and when they have a little moment, Caroline and Bonnie show up. Stefan confronts the two strongmen and asks them about Damon, to which he throws a bell at them, hitting them in the process and they run out of the tent. Caroline, Bonnie, Elena and Liz see the boys on the stage, and when Bonnie tries a spell, she sees that it didn't work. Stefan enters the main tent and stops when fire erupts in front of him. Caroline notices Elena left when she heard Damon and Bonnie wants Caroline to snap Matt's neck to see if the trance breaks. Elena enters the tent as well and sees that Damon's cage is open, and now both brothers are fighting. Damon is now under a trance and tells Stefan that he's not going anywhere unless he's dragging his dead body out of the tent. While Damon and Stefan fight, various tranced people say they want to see blood. Elena is shown to be captured by the strongmen. Damon starts to hallucinate Stefan as Katherine and Giuseppe, causing him to attack Stefan more. She escapes the strongmen and grabs the cage, burning her hands. Caroline tells Bonnie there needs to be a Plan B as she doesn't want to snap Matt's neck and is then asked about her acting skills. Stefan pulls out the stake from his upper shoulder and tells Damon he's going to get him out of there. While still in a trance, Damon tells Stefan when he showed up again, Elena was happy and Stefan calls him a dick, pressing him against the cage's bars, burning him. Caroline is performing on stage next to Matt and Jeremy, and she then pepper sprays them, grabbing them and chains them up on a carriage wheel. She asks where her mother is and Bonnie tells her that Liz was going to meet up with them after she turns off the generator. Caroline smells blood and rescues her mother, and thinks that one of the carnies attacked her. Caroline attacks the ringmaster, knocking the pendant off and Bonnie tries to cast a spell, but a grimoire spell won't work without her magic. Sheila shows up with other witches and they cast a spell, which breaks the people out of their trances. As the ringmaster makes a run for it, they get the people out of the tent before the fire gets them. Matt then hits the ringmaster in the back of the head and Liz arrests him. Bonnie decides to take the pendant back to Whitmore as they love that kind of stuff at the archives. Caroline makes comfort food for the group, and Elena tells her that Stefan decided to stay by Damon. On the roof of the house, Damon tells Stefan the real truth is that he missed him during the summer and he'll be damned if he'll let Elena get between them. Stefan tells him he knows, but he's still a dick. Characters Main Characters *Damon Salvatore *Stefan Salvatore *Elena Gilbert Supporting Characters *Matt Donovan *Jeremy Gilbert *Katherine Pierce (hallucination) *Bonnie Bennett *Caroline Forbes *Liz Forbes *Giuseppe Salvatore (hallucination) *Sheila Bennett Trivia *Stefan is shown to be suffering from PTSD still due to being locked up in the safe. Credits *Art by: Cat Staggs *Colored by: *Pencils: Cat Staggs *Cover by: Cat Staggs *Page Count: 23 *Age Rating: 15+ Only Gallery TVD Comic Thirty-Seven.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Seven_page_1.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Seven_page_2.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Seven_page_3.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Eight.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Eight_page_1.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Eight_page_2.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Eight_page_3.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Nine.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Nine_page_1.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Nine_page_2.jpg TVD_Comic_Thirty-Nine_page_3.jpg References See also Category:Digital Comics Category:Non-Canon